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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Zeta slams into Louisiana, its fifth storm in a single season; Logging begins in pristine Tongass National Forest; China vaults ahead of U.S. on international climate pledge; PLUS: The case for court reform to protect climate legislation... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The most important climate ballot initiatives to watch on Election Day; Trump Administration hardens its attack on climate science; No matter who wins, US exits Paris Accord the day after the election; Wyoming is using dark money to keep coal plants open in othe states; Trump Interior Dept. 'propaganda' video and tweets may violate ethics laws; St. Augustine, FL struggles to save historic landmarks from increased flooding; EPA OKs soybean, dotton farmers’ use of dicamba weedkiller... PLUS: Trump Administration buries dozens of clean energy studies... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• Hurricane Zeta slams into Louisiana:
• Hurricane Zeta blamed for 3 deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia (NOLA)
• Zeta Live Updates: Storm Knocks Out Power to 2 Million (NY Times)
• VIDEO: Hurricane Zeta makes landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm (CBS News)
• Zeta is racing through Virginia after cutting power to 2.5 million and killing three in Southeast (Washington Post):
  
  The storm, which unleashed winds to 110 mph along the coast, hit New Orleans and Atlanta particularly hard.
• The climate science behind this year's wildfires and powerful storms, wtih Dr. Michael Mann (60 Minutes/CBS News)
• The case for expanding and rebalancing the federal judiciary and US Supreme Court:
• AUDIO: Aaron Belkin of Take Back the Court - 'BradCast' 10/27/2020 (The BRAD BLOG)
• Why Amy Coney Barrett's addition to supreme court may undermine climate fight (Guardian UK):
  
  The supreme court is shifting right, at a pivotal moment when it could have the last word on how much the US contributes to battling the climate crisis. Amy Coney Barrett’s addition to the court could leave an indelible mark on how fiercely the US, and perhaps the rest of the world, can fight rising temperatures, even as scientists warn society has just years to take serious action..From deciding the legality of climate regulations for polluters to determining whether oil companies should pay for climate damages, Barrett and five other conservative justices will wield considerable influence.
• Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation could revive this hidden doctrine — and derail climate action (Grist)
• It’s ‘Court Reform,’ Not Court Packing (The Nation):
  
  But whatever they call it, Democrats should embrace fixing a Supreme Court that has become an unaccountable legislature in all but name.
• January-September 2020 was hottest Jan-Sept ever recorded:
• Five warmest January-September global temperatures since at least 1880 (Zach Labe, Colorado State Univ)
• Arctic sea ice failing to refreeze off of Siberia:
• Alarm as Arctic sea ice not yet freezing at latest date on record (Guardian UK):
  
  For the first time since records began, the main nursery of Arctic sea ice in Siberia has yet to start freezing in late October. The delayed annual freeze in the Laptev Sea has been caused by freakishly protracted warmth in northern Russia and the intrusion of Atlantic waters, say climate scientists who warn of possible knock-on effects across the polar region...“The lack of freeze-up so far this fall is unprecedented in the Siberian Arctic region."
• Why the record low Arctic sea ice this October is so alarming (Vox)
• Warming shrinks Arctic Ocean ice to 2nd lowest on record (AP, 9/21/2020):
  
  Studies show that the warming of the Arctic and the melting of sea ice change weather further south, by altering the jet stream and other waves that move weather systems.
• Arctic Sea Ice Has Yet To Form Off Of Siberia, Worrying Scientists (Mongabay)
• Siberian heatwave of 2020 almost impossible without climate change (World Weather Attribution)
• Where’s the sea ice? 3 reasons the Arctic freeze is unseasonably late and why it matters (The Conversation):
  
  With the setting of the sun and the onset of polar darkness, the Arctic Ocean would normally be crusted with sea ice along the Siberian coast by now. But this year, the water is still open...[T]his is not normal. There’s so much more heat in the ocean now than there used to be that the pattern of autumn ice growth has been completely disrupted.
• Arctic amplification is caused by sea-ice loss under increasing CO2 (Nature)
• Logging begins in pristine Tongass National Forest
• Road, logging restrictions to end in largest national forest (AP)
• Trump administration is stripping protections from Tongass National Forest, called "America's last climate sanctuary" (CBS News)
• Road, logging restrictions to end in largest national forest (Washington Post)
• Trump to strip protections from Tongass National Forest, one of the biggest intact temperate rainforests (Washington Post):
  
  “While tropical rainforests are the lungs of the planet, the Tongass is the lungs of North America,” Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist with the Earth Island Institute’s Wild Heritage project, said in an interview. “It’s America’s last climate sanctuary.”
• Revealed: The Full Extent Of Trump's Assault On US Wilderness (Guardian UK)
• China vaults ahead of U.S. in international climate ambitions:
• Japan, South Korea and China commit to carbon neutrality by 2050 and 2060 (AFP):
  
  Zero carbon emissions by 2050. That's the goal announced by South Korean president Sud Moon Jae-in this week. China and Japan had taken a similar decision a few days and weeks back. Big news, considering that these three Asian countries are among the biggest polluters in the world.
• China Says It Will Stop Releasing CO2 within 40 Years (Scientific American/E&E News):
  
  China pledged yesterday to stop releasing carbon emissions before 2060 in a surprise move that catapults it ahead of U.S. ambitions on climate change and instantly raised questions about whether it can radically alter its status as the world's top emitter within 40 years.
• How China could be carbon neutral by mid-century (Nature)
• China Just Moved Closer to Becoming the World’s Climate Leader (Time Magazine)
• 'A Decarbonized Society': Japan Pledges To Be Carbon Neutral By 2050 (NPR)
• South Korea joins Japan in making 2050 carbon-neutral pledge (Nikkei Asia)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

• The Most Important Climate Ballot Initiatives to Watch on Election Day (Earther)
• Trump Administration Hardens Its Attack on Climate Science (NY Times)
• No Matter Who Wins, the US Exits the Paris Climate Accord the Day After the Election (Inside Climate News)
• Progressives Bet Drinking Water Can Help Flip A House Seat In Nebraska (Huffington Post)
• Wyoming Is Using Dark Money To Help Keep Coal Plants In Other States Open (NPR)
• Agreement Ends Dispute Over Threatened Mexican Spotted Owl (AP)
• Interior 'Propaganda' Video And Tweets May Violate Ethics Laws: Experts (The Hill)
• Deluged by Floods, America’s 'Oldest City' Struggles To Save Landmarks (Guardian UK)
• Army Corps banks on wetland data that EPA deemed 'unreliable' (E& E News)
• EPA OKs Soybean, Cotton Farmers’ Use of Dicamba Weedkiller (Bloomberg)
• Trump Administration Buries Dozens Of Clean Energy Studies (Investigate West)
• Auditor Slams CA For Exide Cleanup Delays, Sees Costs Near $650 Million (LA Times)
• Struggling Oil Companies Are Still Giving Plenty to Republicans (Inside Climate News)
• Wildfires Bring Unhealthiest Air In The Nation To Southern California (LA Times)
• Biden win could double annual solar deployments, increase financial impacts to utility customers: S&P (Utility Dive)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• What Does '12 Years to Act on Climate Change' (Now 11 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• SEJ Backgrounder: Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation (Society of Environmental Journalists)
• Explainer: The 'Green New Deal': Mobilizing for a just, prosperous, and sustainable economy (New Consensus)
• What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• An Optimist's Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
• The world's bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate - so every reduction in emissions helps.
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak - sooner than you think.
• A beginner's guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it's possible for the whole world to run on renewables - we merely lack the "political will." So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page

• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).

                 

Article Categories: Louisiana, Environment, Republicans, Green News, Japan, Donald Trump, Climate change, Extreme weather, China, Oceans/Sea Level Rise, Paris Agreement, Arctic, South Korea, Election 2020